Lionheart Engie
by CandiedSardines
Summary: In which Snippy is in danger, Pilot does not care, and Engie is brave.


In which Engie is brave.

「Version 2.0! Now with 100.65% more formatting!」

...

"Go Snips!" Pilot shouted behind him, "Yeah, you can do it," Engie said a bit slower, nonchalant.

Snippy grunted angrily, prying open the huge steel door of a bank vault, having knocked a rusted crowbar into the narrow opening with a stiff and crumbling rubber mallet. "You... two... could help out you know..." he growled between his clenched teeth, wrenching the enormous door with all his strength.

The vault made a horrific screech as he inched it open, second by second, wider and wider as Pilot and Engie cheered him on. As he fought the hideously rusted hinges, Engie waved a handkerchief he had found, halfheartedly. Pilot however, shook two filthy pompoms quite enthusiastically, ones he likely dug up from the public highschool they had visited last week. Snippy shuddered at the memory. Why did Captain have to be the one to find the jockstraps?

The space he had made was just big enough to put an arm inside now, and was giving him hope. "It's only been something like 2 hours," he forced out between his now aching teeth, "I should have this open just in time to die of heart failure in front of them."

He pushed hard, giving it all he had as he threw himself into the next push, causing the hinges to let out a piercing screech and opening it a good 12 inches or so. As he did so, the already weak bit of iron he was using snapped and flew into his face. "ARGH MY RETINAS!" he shouted, falling to the ground clutching his face.

"Ah, finally," Engie sighed, stepping over Snippy's writhing form and peeking into the now sufficiently open vault. "Mission accomplished I suppose."

"Nope!" Pilot shouted, stepping over Snippy as well, taking the empty backpack off and zipping it open gleefully. "The mission was to "recover zee Beanie Babies"! We're not done until we get back with Captain's investment."

"Yeah, I guess," Engie mumbled, knocking the flashlight he held against his palm, trying to get it to light. When it finally did, he turned back to the huge door and shined it inside.

Across the rather small, crumbling and empty room, a medium sized, unassuming cardboard box sat. "That must be it."

Squeezing himself through the gap Snippy so nobly made with his sacrifice, he quickly stepped across the room to the box. Before he reached it, he stopped and reached into his coat pocket, pulling out a large stone. He tossed it under-hand at the box, hitting it hard and knocking it over onto it's side, causing an avalanche of small stuffed animals to spill out. Nothing hideously dangerous yet. Being in the wasteland had taught him caution. Anything, at anytime, could murder him horrifically.

"Engie! Do Not assault Captain's investments!" Pilot shouted from outside the door over Snippy's pained moans of agony, as he casually tossed the bag inside to his comrade. Engie grunted in response, catching the bag and crouching next to the box, beginning the task of loading it full of tiny stuffed animals.

He stuffed them in quickly, but stopped when he grabbed a black and white cat doll. He read the tag, "Zip", and grinned a bit. "Can you believe these were worth a fortune before the fall?" he said out loud, but mostly to himself. "I wonder how he got so many. Only the richest had these. I had a giraffe one, personally..." he sighed, reminiscing.

It seemed like an eternity ago, a far different world where everything was so plentiful and people so content that they had time to worry about their stuffed animal collections. No roaming radioactive wastelands for irradiated cans of soup and beans, starving more often than not. No fighting off huge monsters or sleeping in bombed out buildings, always terrified. For now, in this moment, everything was as it once was. He wasn't scared, holding a soft little toy in his hands, petting it's head with his gloved thumb as it's bright little eyes glittered with friendliness.

"GAHHH!"

Engie jolted at Snippy's suddenly renewed screaming and a loud bang against the once open vault door, dropping the little doll to the floor and jerking his head back to the now sliver of light peeking through into the room. There was the sound of heavy footsteps and things being thrown. He shouldn't have dawdled so long. He rushed now, shoving the little toys into the bag and zipping it quickly.

"I should have known all the noise Snippy made would attract something!" He pulled the backpack on then crawled quickly over to the door.

"MY TREASURES!" a gravely, gurgling voice screeched. He gasped, covering his mouth quickly as if to muffle the sound.

"_I _have those treasures...!" he breathed, inching closer to the door to catch a glimpse of his new foe.

Through the open crack now left after the crash against the door, he saw Snippy attempting to raise his gun, only to have it snatched away from him and dashed on the floor. Before the sniper could raise his gaze away from his destroyed weapon and up to his attacker, a huge, grotesquely muscled arm lashed out and wrapped it's deformed fingers around his neck, dragging him away from view as he gurgled for help.

"What!? Where's Pilot!?"he breathed, confused. After a moment of gathering his courage, he took a deep breath and pushed on the door lightly, hoping to open it a bit more. But it was heavier than he had anticipated, causing his feet to lose grip and slip in the dust. Engie fell face forward into the door, cracking his skull against it with a reverberating CLANG, before everything went dark.

The next thing Engie saw was Pilot's bug-eyed aviator goggles staring down at him as he was lightly nudged in the head with a filthy boot Pilot held in one hand. "Wake up, sleepy, goobly Engie. We can't rest yet. We have to complete our mission."

"Ugh," Engie's hand reached up to touch his throbbing head, but suddenly he was being lifted up roughly by his arm as Pilot snatched the bag of plush toys off his back. "Hey!" he snapped at the seemingly beaming man as Pilot secured the bag to his own back.

"Captain's treasure won't get much protection from a fluffy squid like you." his grin evident in his voice as he patted the overstuffed bag. Pilot turned away from him, revealing the pompoms streaming out of his back pockets. "You're really keeping those? Snippy doesn't need any cheering on, except maybe to recover from his head trauma."

Engie looked back briefly at the cardboard box and noticed the little cat he had been holding earlier still lying in the dust. He walked over and picked it up gingerly, brushing the dirt off the best he could and slipping it into his pocket.

Stepping back out of the dark room and on to the comparatively bright floor of the bank, Engie looked around, left to right, looking for their other comrade. "Where _is _Snippy, anyway?"

"Dead." Pilot said deadpan, not breaking stride as he headed for the exit, but the words seemed to hit Engie like a truck, stopping him so quickly he fell backward.

"WHAT." he spat, horrified.

"The ugly man took him, but I had to stay and protect Captain's second most precious treasure. My guess is jiggly Snippy is dead."

"So he was alive when the man took him?!" Engie scrambled to his feet, running up to Pilot and grabbing his shoulder. He turned the other man, seeing his own reflection in Pilot's mirrored goggles. "You're strong enough and fast enough to go after him! We can't leave Snippy to die! Not for Captain's _toys!" _He pleaded, trying to reason with the aviator, not that reason ever meant anything to him.

Pilot smacked Engie's hand away in disgust and jabbed a finger into Engie's chest, pushing him back. "Don't you EVER-" Pilot started until he was cut off by a pained scream ringing out in the dead city's ruins. Both heads turned towards Snippy's cries as the echo faded around them. Pilot grunted and turned away again, heading back towards their base where Captain waited. Where Captain with all the luck Engie needed to survive out here. Pilot carried that luck with him too, in the backpack filled with their completed mission. He would have to follow Pilot to stay safe.

But on the other hand, he couldn't lose Snippy to whatever horrible fate that thing was dragging him away to. Snippy was the only one actively working to keep them all fed, safe, and alive. The only one with survival skills to navigate the wasteland. The only one with something non-crazy to say. Most of the time.

Engie lingered, staring out to the mountainous ruins and feeling a surge of emotion, his hands clasped over his chest as his mind raced.

Behind him, Pilot's footsteps grew fainter as he was left behind in his distress. Feeling his pulse pounding in his ears, panic rising with his temperature, and biting his lip hard enough to draw blood, he knew he was throowing himself into a panic.

Torn, Engie crouched down to the ground and braced his head between his legs, trying to calm himself and he breathed deeply.

As he trembled, agonizing over a decision, Snippy's scream rang out again. Engie's head snapped up as he looked out. He was still close. Engie looked back over his shoulder after Pilot, who was disappearing into the open wasteland.

Shaking hard with fear as he stood again, Engie gathered all his courage as he swallowed hard and cursed himself. "I'll save you, Snippy!" he whispered timidly.

He took a trembling step forward and promptly tripped.

...

I sure hope he doesn't die.

I have the next few chapters planned out, so there's no reason for me to fall behind.

Feel free to bash me over the head with this information.


End file.
